Open You got something for me

[Felix Layton-King]

Felix found himself strutting. He wasn't exactly sure where his new found confidence had come from this year but he was certainly going to make the most of it. He thought it was less to do with the fact his sister had backed off (although that certainly helped) and more to do with realising that he had a group of friends now that he could trust enough to fully be himself. Unlike at home, he didn't feel like he had to hide who he was in fear of getting teased or bullied, and the more that time went on, the more Felix was finding the people seemed to know who he was. No one had ever remembered him growing up, he was a face that was usually lost in a crowd. But here? Here he was feeling as though he could actually be something, and with his advocation project over his shoulder, maybe he did have what it took to make something of his time at school. Why shouldn't he be strutting?

He paused at a crossroad in the corridor, the area splitting off into multiple paths in different directions depending on where the students were headed. On the corner, the section that overlooked every possible direction, the second year decided to loiter. He leant on the cool brick wall, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robes and started to just observe the students that passed. He didn't have any place to be, and besides perhaps it was time he started to see what others in the castle were up to; start getting his name out there a little more. ​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Although she had calmed down a little, Morrie had been in a foul mood ever since that stupid musical chairs event. Sure, her bad mood had started before that whole event, but the situation with Eurydice which had not gone in Morrie’s favour had definitely taken it up to a whole new level for a little while. Those second years were a pain in general, like the one who had basically staged a protest until Morrie left the game. It was stupid and lame, and it had annoyed Morrie even more.

A few days had passed now and she wasn’t seething about it as much as she had been and her mood was returning to the regular level of angry as she stomped down the corridor. Then she saw the kid who was now leaning against a wall like he thought he was the coolest kid around. His smug face made Morrie’s blood boil like they were back playing musical chairs again.

Without a second thought because if she hesitated he might see what was coming, she whipped out her wand and cast "Furnunculus" in his direction. It was an experiment if anything to see if he'd still look cool when covered in boils.

Out of Character:

Is this the kind of girl and level of drama you were looking for?

 

[Felix Layton-King]

Felix was minding his own business when he spotted the Slytherin from the game of Musical chairs, slowly stalking toward him. The Gryffindor was pretty relaxed, until he saw the girl reaching for her wand. Being bullied by Ten had its benefits, specifically it meant that his reflexes were on point and when he needed to dart out of her way, he was good at avoiding her advances. Morrie immediately tried to fire a spell in his direction, and perhaps the recent dueling tournament had warmed him up.

The second year leapt out of the way of the incoming spell, before shooting another glance to its caster. He couldn't say he was surprised Morrie was trying to get her revenge, given he'd pointed out her attempts at cheating at the game. That being said, Felix had no intention of fighting her and would have much preferred to smooth things over. "My shoulder is still wounded. Surely you don't want to make things any worse," he said, rubbing his shoulder for effect. It had hurt his pride that no one had actually noticed or commented when Morrie had shoved him, but he was already moving on. "Why are you so keen to go for round two?" the blond asked.
​

Out of Character:

He'll take it

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie scowled at the Felix kid, her grip on her wand tightening before she shoved it back into her robes with an angry huff. She was even more annoyed now she had been denied the satisfaction of a hit. She had lined up that spell perfectly as well but his stupid reflexes had spoilt her fun. In hindsight he'd had a clear viewpoint and been able to see it coming but it still wasn't good enough for Morrie. She briefly thought about having another go but it was too risky in such a public area since people were probably watching now.

She rolled her eyes at his shoulder rub, clearly unimpressed with him. “Cant hurt that much if you can still run your mouth just fine.” She glared at him standing there, looking all smug which really annoyed her. "Oh, I'm just getting warmed up." Morrie warned him coldly.

 

[Felix Layton-King]

Morrie certainly reminded Felix of his sister, although she wasn’t quite as loud as the Gryffindor. He smiled slightly when she put her want away, at least that was a good sign she wasn’t about to do any more magic to him, although it didn’t stop her from shoving him again later for good measure. “My mouth?” Felix asked, “No no you hit my shoulder. The two aren’t actually connected. Well they are, through my neck, but hurting one doesn’t hurt the other,” he grinned at the redhead, before both hands returned to their pockets and he took a few steps closer.

“You’re so angry.” Felix commented out loud, the frustration written across her face was unmissable. “Sure I like a little competition too, I would have loved to win, but are you really that angry you lost the game? Doesn’t that make you tired?” It had been days, so if Morrie still held a grudge that meant she’d used up room in her brain keeping hold of it, and no one should have to waste energy fixated on something so insignificant. Morrie claimed she was just warming up, but for what? Felix wasn’t about to fight her.​

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Hogwarts was pretty overwhelming, really. Peregrine tried, but most of the time all she wanted to do was sink into books and ponder finding actual magical creatures in the grounds. That was easier to deal with than people. Maybe her uncle was right that people were overwhelming and loud and difficult. But Peregrine was also a Gryffindor, so it was expected that she'd actually front up and be brave. Just like her mother was. Exiting the library and heading down the corridor towards the stairs, she saw one boy she vaguely recognized with a mean looking older girl sizing him up. She had seen the boy in the common room, and remembered he'd sat with Tori at Jasper's duel - though of course, she'd felt too awkward to actually join them. He seemed pretty cool, though.

She could continue being awkward, of course, and walk away, take an extremely long way around to get back to the dorms. But Peregrine wanted the older Gryffindors to like her, and if she was going to fit in she had to be brave. Her mother had been a hit witch, after all. Surely Peregrine could handle altercations. "Um," she half-squeaked, her voice betraying her. Peregrine cleared her throat, and stood as tall as she could. Which, unfortunately, was not very tall at all. "You shouldn't fight in the hallway," she managed to get out, somehow putting on the voice Percy had dubbed 'boring mum Perry'. "Or fight at all, but, um, you know, s-some of us need to get past..." she added, trailing off. Peregrine wasn't scared of dragons, or manticores, or hippogriffs, but this girl was intimidating, and combined with the Gryffindor boy's kind of cool aura, Peregrine already regretted opening her mouth.

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael hated going to the Library these days now that it had become Tiziano's domain. It was still incredibly grating that his brother had somehow managed to worm his way into the school. Still, he couldn't deny that it was the most likely place to find his boyfriend now that NEWTs were right around the corner. Perhaps the one good thing about Tiziano being the new librarian is Mikael just can't take him seriously with regards to sneaking food in for Elio to snack on while studying. Especially when even Eurydice would try to swipe the snacks. His venture towards the Library, however, was now proving to be a headache because there, in the middle of the hallway, was what seemingly was an altercation. Annoying. It took another couple of steps before Mikael recognized the Slytherin girl standing there, and his eyes narrowed. It was the girl he suspected but had yet to confirm - Eurydice was still being tight-lipped on the matter. The other two Gryffindors seemed to be younger - he was pretty sure that the boy was the one that hung around Jonah. The girl was perhaps the same age. He'd approached hearing distance just in time to hear the younger girl's words, and Mikael inwardly sighed. "Just walk past," Mikael said as he stopped, hands shoved in his pockets and gesturing to the younger girl with his head.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie looked at Felix like he’d just said the most stupidest thing in the world, then she felt angry that he was implying she was stupid. “Oh well in that case I’ll make sure to aim for your mouth next time.” She folded her arms, not moving as he stepped closer, and scowled when he called her angry. She was going to answer when another Gryffindor, even smaller than the first came along and told them off for arguing. Morrie gave her a look of venom. “There is plenty of room for little pests like you to go around us.” She remarked, then shook her head and scoffed, “Listen to the prefect, he has the right idea.” She huffed, thinking about storming off herself but not acting on that yet. If Felix wasn't going to fight her then Morrie was not bothered about hanging around for a chat.

 

[Felix Layton-King]

"Next time? Once wasn't enough for you?" Felix smirked, feeling more confident Morrie wasn't about to whip her wand back out. "Gosh if I knew there would be a line for those who wanted to bump into me, I would've said something a lot sooner," it was nice to hear that people wanted to interact with him, however that was, instead of being left to feel invisible.

Just then another Gryffindor he vaguely recognized from the common room tried to come past, although not without informing them people were trying to pass through. Felix couldn't deny Morrie had a point, there was plenty of room, but then again talking to a first year like that wasn't exactly going to fly either. Felix knew how it felt to be considered a pest, a nickname that had been used on him before, too. A nearby prefect made no attempt to help the first year get past, beyond looking down his nose at the younger girl. Typical Slytherins.

"Where are you going?" he asked the other Gryffindor, with half a mind to walk with her if not just to get away from the other two. If Morrie wasn't going to bother addressing the way she let her anger control her, then there was no helping her. Felix already had one redhead to worry about without adding another.​

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Peregrine's fear immediately turned to annoyance at the older boy's attitude. She had dealt with unhelpful adults now and then, especially when her mum had been sick. She had learned often they just couldn't do things, but sometimes it was more that they wouldn't, and that was what Peregrine hated to deal with. This boy was only technically kind of an adult, but he did look much older and did have a prefect's badge. "That isn't the point," she said, hands gripping the strap of her book bag nervously. "You're a prefect, you're supposed to tell them to stop," she added, finding a little more confidence out of frustration. Yes, she could go around, that was very true, but she couldn't exactly just ignore what was happening. That wouldn't be very brave or noble of her at all. Even if she did want to crumple under the older girl's gaze. "Besides, um, making threats is really not okay..." she added, realizing halfway through saying it it wasn't the gotcha she had hoped. Other students were a lot.

 

[Mikael Nightray]

"Five points Ayre for bullying," Mikael sighed as the Slytherin called the younger girl a pest. He'd only just gotten there and it was already too much of a headache. He was blaming Castillo for this. He then looked at the Gryffindor girl and then looked at the other two students in the hallway. He didn't need pointing out that he was a prefect. He knew that perfectly well, thank you very much. Which is why he'd taken points off for the Ayre calling her a pest. And the girl was telling him that Mikael was supposed to tell them - the boy and Ayre, likely - to stop. What was he going to stop them for? Standing around in the hallway having a conversation he did not hear? He'd only gotten there in time for the girl to want to pass by and Ayre calling her a pest. His eyes did narrow though at the girl's words about making threats. "You're right. Making threats is unacceptable. Who made it?" He knew where his bets were. A second-year threatening a fourth-year was laughable but who knew, maybe the Gryffindor had it in him. Gryffindors. He doubted it, considering it was Jonah's friend. Perhaps, if it was Elijah's friend. Or Sayuri's.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Well if Morrie hadn't been livid before, she certainly was now. Her attention was on Michael for taking house points away from her for no good reason. She didn't really care about points, but had never had any taken by another Slytherin before, not even June Davenport had ever stopped so low. This particular prefect was clearly from the gutter. "Bu-bullying? I didn't even do anything!" She protested, not wanting something like that on her record. "You -" she looked directly at the younger Gryffindor girl, "Do you think I bullied you?" The look she gave was clearly a warning for the answer Morrie wanted.

Morrie jumped in before the Gryffindor could answer Mikael's questions, "He did." Morrie jerked her head towards Felix. "He threatened me first, before she even got here, and I had to defend myself like any normal person would." Morrie explained, if he wouldn't fight her then maybe Morrie could get him into trouble some other way instead.

 

[Felix Layton-King]

Felix just blinked at the first year as she ignored his question, although maybe it was just because she was too preoccupied with the other students to have heard. The blond looked back to the prefect as he told Morrie he was taking away some house points, and while he didn't care by any means that Slytherin were losing them, he had to wonder if he was one of those strict prefects that he should have watched out for. Then again, bullying shouldn't have been tolerated at all, and perhaps if someone had stopped Ten in her tracks last year before things had gotten as far as they had, it wouldn't have taken so long to fix.

The second year turned his head to Morrie when she tried to claim that it was him that had threatened her, and while it would have been easy to grab any of the students that were also hanging around the corridor to call upon another witness, Felix didn't bother. Instead, he just looked back at the prefect, his eyebrows raised. He'd only seen Morrie during the game of Musical Chairs, but surely if an older student in her house had ever heard of her before, they'd have an even better idea of what she was like. If Felix felt as though he already had a good idea of the type of person she was, it wouldn't take a genius to connect the dots. "The only thing I'm at risk of threatening her with is a slight inconvenience to her ego."​

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Honestly at this point it didn't matter where Peregrine was even going, in fact if anything she would probably retreat to the library instead to pick up another book to read. She'd almost certainly overstepped and felt awful about it. She'd just seen what looked like an older girl intimidating a Gryffindor boy she wanted to get along with, casting a spell even at first, and gone and opened her stupid mouth. She clutched her bag tighter, eyes dropping down to her shoes. "Um, no, it wasn't me..." she admitted. This boy was an awful prefect, she thought, a little dismissively - but tried to smother those feelings down with her own anxiety. "She, um, didn't do anything to me, but..." she looked up again at Felix, at something of a loss. Was he just too cool to care about it? Probably, she was the stupid one thinking it was unjust. She trailed off, wishing she was in an acromantula den instead. Seemed safer.

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael was already regretting this so much. It was all Castillo's fault for making him a prefect and now he had to deal with the whines of one Morrie Ayre who wasn't even intelligent enough to know English. "Calling a first-year a pest is bullying," Mikael said as if he was explaining to a child. Perhaps he would have to give her a dictionary. And then of course, she still wasn't smart enough to stop and instead tried to bully the first-year into agreeing. "Intimidating her won't give you your points back so I highly suggest you stop or I'll have to take more," he said firmly. Mikael waited for the Gryffindor girl to speak up on who made the threats but it was obviously not happening. Instead, what he got was a Slytherin with delusions and he wasn't even talking to.

Mikael looked at Morrie blandly as she made the accusation and looked to the Gryffindor to see what he had to say. They at least seemed both equally unimpressed. "So a second-year threatened you," he recapped to Morrie easily in a tone that made it obvious how much bull he thought it was. "Most likely, as he says, to your ego, not that that's incredibly hard to do. Unfortunately, Ayre, I can't punish someone for standing around as a threat to your ego, especially since they're Gryffindors and not Slytherins, you're going to have to go to their Head of House. Would you like me to accompany you to report him then?" he offered, his arm gesturing towards the stairs that would lead down to Cade's office. "I'm sure we can get it all straightened out. And how did you say you defended yourself again?" he tilted his head ever so slightly in curiosity. Of course, he thought it was utter bull but if Ayre wanted to go to Cade, then Mikael would have no qualms about letting the man know to look out for the two Gryffindors as well since they'd somehow manage to make it to Ayre's radar. "I suggest going on your way if you have nothing more to say and would like to leave," he told the Gryffindors, mostly directed at the girl since she obviously had no more capacity to just use her words. Merlin, he wished his boyfriend was here so he could deal with this instead.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie scoffed at the Gryffindor boy’s nonsense, barely sparing him a glance. The girl had more sense, at least she had some backing to her words and was probably making a wise choice by not finishing her sentence. Not that it mattered. Morrie wasn’t the least bit bothered by the little kids or reporting one of them. Her attention was on the prefect. She crossed her arms defiantly. “Why would I want to see the Gryffindor Head of House to report some lame kid?” she shot back. “No, I want to speak to Castillo and tell him how you’ve been abusing your prefect privileges.” Her eyes narrowed, “You can’t just go around taking points for bullying when I wasn’t even bullying.” In her mind, calling someone a pest was not bullying, and she didn't think Castillo would appreciate him taking points given how keen he was to win the house cup. At the very least, if Morrie could kick up enough of a fuss to give the prefect a headache over taking them in the first place, then maybe he’d think twice before doing it again.

 

[Felix Layton-King]

The redhead was exhausting, honestly. "Well, any normal person that was threatened would usually want to seek justice and stop others from being bullied in the same way, but since I'm just a lame kid then I suppose you must have really felt hard done by, what with all the bullying I've apparently done," Felix shot in, even though it was the prefect she'd been asking. Between Morrie who seemed now to be more interested in antagonizing the prefect, the prefect who didn't seem to want either of the Gryffindors around, and the first year who looked as though the ground would swallow her up, Felix knew better than to continue loitering in this particular part of the castle. There were many other places that would provide entertainment without needing to waste his time here.

Felix had caught the first years glance, honestly she reminded him a lot of himself a year ago. She'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and Morrie was not someone she needed to get to know any faster than she had to. "Talking of the Gryffindor Head of House," Felix stood up a little taller, "James and I are overdue a catch up over tea and crackers," he announced, "he's good like that. Open door policy, the lot." He didn't usually refer to the man as anything more than Professor Cade, but he supposed that dating one of his daughters did come with benefits. He turned to the younger girl, eyebrows raised and eyes wide, "Coming?" he asked, hoping she'd catch his drift.​